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Overview

Essays in Honor of Salo W. Baron

In this insightful book, an eclectic and distinguished group of writers explore the Jewish experience in the Americas and celebrate the legacy of Salo Wittmayer Baron (1895–1989), a preeminent scholar who revolutionized the study of Jewish history during his lengthy tenure at Columbia University. Baron’s important ideas are reflected throughout these texts, which concern strategies for the continuous identity of a dispersed people.

Featured essays discuss the meaning and significance of colonial portraits of American Jews; the history of an extraordinary group of Jews in the remote Amazon; the charitable fairs organized by Jewish women to raise money for various causes in 19th-century America; the place of Jews in post-modern American culture; the 'Jewish unconscious' of the art critic Meyer Schapiro; and Salo Baron’s influence as a historian and teacher. Poems by Robert Pinsky, a former poet laureate, accompany the essays. Together, these writings form a dynamic interplay of ideas that encourages readers to think deeply about Jewish history and identity.